DULUTH -- St. Louis County commissioners have joined a growing din of local opposition to a possible federal environmental review that would consider the border, collective impacts of multiple copper mining projects in the Superior National Forest.

The county board's Committee of the Whole on Tuesday advanced the resolution on a voice vote with no dissent. The board is set to give final approval to the resolution at its June 24 meeting in Ely.

The county joins some city councils and Iron Range politicians in opposing a broader federal review, saying it's not needed because each project will have its own environmental review. They contend any additional federal review would unnecessarily delay projects.

U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan, DFL-Minn., also is on record opposing the broader review.

County Commissioner Keith Nelson, who proposed the resolution, said the broader federal review -- called a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement -- was being quietly pushed by "environmental whackos" who want to stop copper mining at any cost.

"This is simply an attempt by a few individuals to delay" copper mining projects in northeastern Minnesota, Nelson said.

"Environmental whackos are ruining our county. They have already ruined my city," said Commissioner Mike Forsman of Ely, lamenting the decline in main street business in Ely since iron ore mining declined there and since the federal Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness restricted development in the region.

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Groups opposed to copper mining in and near the BWCAW say they have informally asked the Forest Service to consider such a review to consider broader issues of multiple copper mines "within the BWCAW watershed" that flows north toward Hudson Bay.

That would apply to the Twin Metals underground mine proposed east of Ely, and other potential copper mines in that area, but apparently not to the PolyMet project near Hoyt Lakes, which is in the Lake Superior watershed and wouldn't impact the BWCAW.

Becky Rom of Ely, a board member of Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness, said a broader review of potential combined mining activity is required under the National Environmental Policy Act. Copper mining opponents say the Forest Service must consider the cumulative impacts of multiple potential mines and include those impacts as part of a broader, forest-wide study.

It's not clear if, or when, Forest Service officials may decide the issue.

Brenda Halter, supervisor of the Superior National Forest, said Tuesday that "we don't have an anticipated date for proposing a path forward."

"We have spent considerable time listening to people's requests and understanding their concerns about whether a PEIS would add value to the process or not," Halter said. "The forest's main focus is on taking a hard look at what information we need in order to reach informed and supportable decisions. These are important issues and this is healthy conversation to have at this point in the process."

Mining opponents note that the Superior National Forest's current management plan, adopted a decade ago, doesn't address copper mining -- and thus copper mines shouldn't be approved until the plan is amended.

"It's become abundantly clear in recent years that we're not just talking about one possible sulfide mine within the Boundary Waters watershed. The potential is likely for multiple mines, and the law is clear that the Forest Service has to consider all of them before approving any project," Rom said. "This isn't something new, some new rule or layer. This is what is done across the country on federal land when an entirely new industry is being introduced that will change the landscape... You don't look at just one wind mill when you know there's going to be a wind farm coming down the line."

Rom said Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness has had informal discussions with Forest Service officials as high as the regional level. But she said she has no knowledge of whether the agency is considering a broader environmental review.

The group's quiet efforts became public in recent weeks when, according to published reports included in the county board resolution Tuesday, Twin Metals Minnesota used a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain emails Rom sent to a federal agency discussing the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement.

Frank Jewell, county commissioner representing central Duluth, said he wouldn't oppose the resolution Tuesday because of the apparent secretive nature in which the environmental review issue was raised. But Jewell said he took offense to Nelson and Commissioner Mike Forsman of Ely repeatedly referring to opponents of Minnesota's first ever copper mines as "environmental whackos."

"Some of those whacko environmentalists are our neighbors," Jewell said.

Ongaro said such a study, if pursued by the Forest Service, would be tantamount to a "moratorium on any new mining within the forest" because it would likely take several years to complete.

"A PEIS for hard rock mining in the Superior National Forest is unnecessary, duplicative, costly, time consuming and would cause nothing but delay" with no beneficial information resulting, Ongaro said. "This is nothing but a stall tactic."

Tuesday's action was the second pro-copper mining vote the board has taken, even though the county has little or no official business involving the proposed mining projects. In December 2011 the board voted 4-3 in favor of a resolution supporting copper mining.

PolyMet has proposed Minnesota's first-ever copper-nickel mine near Hoyt Lakes, which also would produce precious metals. That proposal currently is in the final stages of an environmental impact statement that could be decided later this year.

Twin Metals is proposing a much larger operation, what would be Minnesota's largest ever underground mine, near the Kawishiwi River east of Ely. Twin Metals is approaching the environmental review process.

Several other companies have looked for copper and other metals in the same area and have leases to mine on some land, but no other projects have been forwarded for any regulatory review.

Supporters say copper mining could spur hundreds of jobs for the region and spur an economic boon. Opponents say the threat of polluted runoff from mines damaging sensitive waters is too great.